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Iowa: The nation's most overrated college football team?
Oct. 5, 2009 3:35 pm
Iowa? Overrated? So says the Los Angeles Times' Chris Dufresne right here.
No, the bookend narrow wins over Northern Iowa and 24-21 victory over Arkansas State don't exactly match up with USC winning at Ohio State or LSU prevailing at Georgia.
But most overrated? Shouldn't that go to Penn State, which is just two spots below Iowa on the AP poll (14th and 12th, respectively) and two spots ahead (yes, ahead!) of the Hawkeyes (12th and 14th, respectively) on the coaches poll?
Of ranked teams, I'd give No. 12 (AP rankings are the only ones that count) Iowa a fighting chance against No. 8 Cincinnati and No. 10 TCU on a neutral field, for starters. No disrespect to either program - and both are darn good programs - but the next ranked team either beats will be the first.
By the way, it isn't as if Dufresne is some Hawkeye hater. He's one of the best college football writers in the biz. He came to Iowa four years and wrote this piece on Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes that still holds up well today.
The Las Vegas Media Consultants help sports books in Nevada and around the world with setting pointspreads. They put out their own weekly college football rankings, without any built-in biases.
LVMC has Iowa tied for 12th this week, so the "overrated" tag doesn't apply to the Hawkeyes in that corner of the world. Here's the LVMC's entire Top 30 for this week:
Week #6– 10/05/2009
Next Ten: Missouri, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Utah, Michigan State, Arkansas, Arizona, Tennessee, Michigan and Wake Forest.
Team
1
1
Florida
122.6
122.6
1
1
2
2
Texas
119.3
119.3
2
2
3
3
Southern Cal
118.6
118.6
3
3
4
4
Alabama
116.3
116.3
4
4
5
5
Ohio State
113.7
113.7
5
5
6
6
Oklahoma
111.5
111.5
6
6
7
7
LSU
110.6
110.6
14
14
8
8
Boise State
110.4
110.4
8
8
9
9
Penn State
110.3
110.3
12
12
9
9
Texas Christian
110.3
110.3
9
9
11
11
Oregon
109.7
109.7
15
15
12
12
Mississippi
109.5
109.5
10
10
12
12
Nebraska
109.5
109.5
13
13
12
12
Iowa
109.5
109.5
11
11
15
15
Oklahoma State
108.2
108.2
16
16
16
16
Virginia Tech
108.0
108.0
21
21
16
16
California
108.0
108.0
7
7
18
18
Miami
107.9
107.9
24
24
19
19
Notre Dame
107.4
107.4
17
17
20
20
Brigham Young
107.1
107.1
18
18
21
21
Georgia
107.0
107.0
19
19
22
22
Cincinnati
106.9
106.9
22
22
23
23
Kansas
106.8
106.8
23
23
24
24
Clemson
106.5
106.5
20
20
25
25
South Carolina
106.4
106.4
27
27
26
26
South Florida
106.0
106.0
26
26
26
26
Stanford
106.0
106.0
NR 32
NR 32
28
28
Georgia Tech
105.8
105.8
28
28
29
29
Texas Tech
105.5
105.5
25
25
30
30
Auburn
105.2
105.2
NR 31
NR 31
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